Investors weigh in on the digital health IPO market

“M&A is actually the brand new IPO,” said Bill Evans, Rock Health’s managing director, who closely tracks the industry.

although who will be the buyers of digital health companies in 2018?

Some investors are betting on big pharma. Companies like Merck along with Johnson & Johnson are increasingly talking up machine learning along with artificial intelligence. Digital health companies, particularly those focused on clinical trial matching or which track how patients are responding to treatments, could be prime targets.

various other venture capitalists, like Bessemer Venture Partners’ Steve Kraus along with Norwest Venture Partners’ Robert Mittendorff, said which tech giants Alphabet, IBM, Apple along with Microsoft will start to acquire digital health start-ups. UnitedHealth’s Optum business, which describes itself as technology-enabled services, is actually also likely to make some strategic bets inside digital health sector.

These acquisitions could result in a more active IPO pipeline for next year.

“If they (tech companies) make a real big splash with some kind of acquisition, This particular could crack open the IPO markets along with public market investor interest inside space sooner than maybe any of us think,” suggested Kraus.